An optimal selection method of wells for secondary fracturing in a single coal seam and its application

At present, methods including mathematical modeling, physical or numerical simulation, and in-situ monitoring have been generally adopted to determine evaluation parameters for coalbed methane (CBM) wells for secondary fracturing. These conventional methods either entail many assumptions, or some parameters are difficult to obtain, resulting in a certain deviation between the evaluation results and reality, or the application cost is high, preventing the monitoring of each CBM well. In view of this, an evaluation index system for the gas production potential, effective length of cracks formed by fracturing, and supporting length of proppant in cracks was established based on the system theory. The evaluation indices were characterized through production data, such as logging, fracturing and drainage, which could avoid potential bias in evaluation when only considering a certain parameter and ensured accuracy and practicability of the evaluation parameters for each well. Principal component analysis (PCA) and the entropy weight method (EWM) were used to obtain weights of evaluation parameters, which avoided the contradiction of contributions of various parameters to optimal selection and the rationalized results. In this way, a method for step-wise optimal selection of wells for secondary fracturing integrating construction of evaluation parameters, determination of critical values, and entropy evaluation was proposed. The results of an evaluation of the Shizhuang South Block of Qinshui Basin (Shanxi Province, China) indicate that wells whose three evaluation indices are satisfied are most preferable; wells that only meet the effective length of cracks formed by fracturing or effective supporting length of proppant in cracks can be selected; wells which do not meet the gas production potential or all of the three parameters cannot be selected.